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Into the room comes a lean male ysoki with dark, slate-meets-charcoal hair. At first glance, one would note a large split through the helix of this ysoki's right ear. (Quite the point of curiosity in a 'Verse where mystical healing and demagrafts are commonplace.)
Head-to-toe in a nondescript zero-g jumpsuit over a second skin and wearing split-toe boots, he trots over to the android, flips his cowl over his shoulder, and offers his gloved paw for a professional handshake.
"Name's Rez. How'zit going?"
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A tall lanky Kasatha woman walks in, she has light grey skin, a bright red scarf tied around her mouth, she is wearing a microcord and a bomber jacket and holding a pike in her left arms, over her right shoulder there is a blue orb she struts past with the pike to the ground, gesturing to the three of you.
”pleasure to make your acquaintance“
She continues past leaning half her weight on her pike and half on the wall. She takes a closer look at the group and asks
what happened to your ear, uh what was it again” she ponders for a minute ”ah Rez”
She ponders for a moment thinking she’s missed something.
”hmm. Oh, by the way I’m Vegoia, I assumed you all would know that alread”
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The First Seeker’s meeting room is a lavish space, with several lush couches and armchairs surrounding a wide, low table. First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo appears uncharacteristically extravagant, having exchanged her typical stationwear for a sleek, fashionable suit in a shade of copper that matches the Starfinder Society logo emblazoned on the table. Behind her stands the towering vesk leader of the Acquisitives faction, wearing a suit of ceremonial armor.
Luwazi smiles and gestures to the seats. “A pleasure to see you all. I trust you’ve heard about tonight’s gala? I have a rather important announcement to make, so we’ve decided to use the opportunity to entertain and impress representatives of the various interests who have helped the Starfinder Society through our setbacks with the Scoured Stars Incident."
“That’s where you come in. As some of the shining stars of the newest Starfinder Society agents, I’d like to have you mingle with the guests so they can see for themselves what we’ve been able to accomplish. It’s nothing too fancy; I’d just like you all to be polite and talk about some of your experiences with the Society so far. We’re expecting some government dignitaries, investors, corporate interests, and the like, so be sure to stay on your best behavior. Also, don’t be afraid to brag a bit—it’s our goal to impress them.”
“But don’t be stupid,” the armored vesk breaks in.
Luwazi Elsebo glances over her shoulder and grins. “Have you all met Radaszam? He’s certainly someone else you should be trying to impress.”
Radaszam scowls. “Events like this never go as planned. Luwazi’s contracted one of my merc outfits, the Obsidian Spiders, to provide security for the night. I want to make sure that if anything goes down, you’re working with my agents, rather than us all tripping over one another. So stay alert, but if anything happens, make sure you’re talking to me about it rather than jumping in blindly.”
The First Seeker nods and picks up the datapad. “I’ve singled out five guests who I would really like to make a good impression with. These folks should be your priority tonight, so I’ve compiled basic information about each of them here. Things will start up in about an hour in the Skyreach Room. Any questions before we go?”
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Rez ponders to himself for a moment. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, getting all fancy for a change...
"Erm... if we were to... say, maybe dress up just a bit for this shindig... how long would we have until showtime?"
He tries his best to act uninterested, but there's a bit of a twinkle in his eyes. Maybe it's just the wear and tear of jumping from system to system, job to job; maybe he just wants to feel clean and decent for a change.
"I mean, I'd don't care what some AbadarCorp suit really thinks of the cut and fabric, but if it's the best course of action for blending in..."
Yeah, there you go. That'll convince them you don't really care...
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Moxie Moon steps into the room, fashionably late. She has light brown skin that is so clear and smooth that it actually seems to be glowing. Her black hair has metallic streaks of silver and gold that match the accents on her jet black form fitting graphite armor. Below her neck is a diamond studded symbol of Abadar. She strides into the room confidently, tossing her hair in a way that seems both casual and suggestive.
Moxie pulls out a comm unit and begins taking notes.
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Moxie stands up and walks around the group of assembled Starfinders, carefully scrutinizing them in turn. "This is a nice enough looking group of young pups. I think I might be able to work with this."
Moxie glances over at Rez and Evee. "You two don't seem to be the type that likes to stand out. Not sure what we're going to do with you."
She turns to Culper and says "Glad to see you're confident. I wonder if you can back any of that bragging up."
As she passes by Chetna she says, "I think I can tell why they picked you for a mission like this."
Moxie looks Vegoia up and down, clearly impressed. "It looks like you're our muscle, but I can tell from that jaunty red scarf that you have a sense of style to go with all that brawl. You look vaguely familiar. Should I know you?"
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Vegoia looks you in the eye trying to place you, failing that she remarks
”I don’t think we’ve met, though I have one of those faces, hmm unless, you wouldn’t happen to have popped by the foreign district of Absalon Station. I work as an ambassador there. thank you by the way. Though honestly I have no idea what to expect this is my first mission with the starfinders, not many stories to tell except of training”
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"... what happened to your ear, uh what was it again?""
Rez looks to the towering kasatha, shrugging his shoulders. "Someone got too close with a blade. Last time that'll ever happen to me, so it's kinda a reminder of sorts."
Rez scrolls down the list of the VIPs on his datapad, then sighs. "Man, these guys all seem like the highest of the high-ups... nobody I'd ever run into in my day-to-day."
He scratches his head, then shrugs to the crew. "Gotta admit, I'm a bit out of my element here, with all this high-society stuff."
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Zo! is an undead media mogul well known throughout the Pact Worlds, always looking for an idea for a new show, strategies to improve his ratings, or other lucrative entertainment deals. His organization funded the recent Society expedition to Salvation’s End, and he is keenly interested in further exploration of the false moon.
Iteration-177 is a relative newcomer to the Aspis Consortium. In addition to making waves by urging Consortium support of the Starfinders, they have an interest in religious artifacts and connections.
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Moxie shares what she knows about Zo! and Iteration-177.
"I'm not sure how much we can trust either of them. Not to say elebrians are untrustworthy. I don't trust Zo! because he's an executive for a media conglomerate, it's doesn't have anything to do with him being undead. Iteration-177 has got to be working some kind of angle with wanting to support us though. Our job is to find out what that is."
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Sharing the information you head of towards the Gala. Culper doesn't seem to recall much more than Eevee and Moxie.
***
The lift doors open into the Skyreach Room, a classy space made breathtaking by large windows set into the vaulted ceiling, providing a shining view of the Armada orbiting Absalom Station and the galaxy beyond. A low stage with black skirting and a sleek podium overlooks the room from the far end of the hall. A dozen or so guests, representing a surprising array of races, mingle in twos and threes, while servers in sharp vests bring around a variety of bizarre snacks and drinks. A curly-haired AV technician arranges the wiring along one side of the stage, and Luwazi stands at the other side speaking with a damaya lashunta man.
The guests described in your briefing can all be found in the room, milling about.
Eevee
Cupler
Vegoia
Moxie
Chetna
Rez
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Moxie looks around the room and decides to approach Zo! first, hoping that he is old enough to remember her from when she was the child star of the moderately popular sit-com "Too Much Moxie!"
"Hey Zo! Yeah it's me, Moxie, Moxie Moon. If you were wondering what I was doing with myself, I'm a Starfinder now." Moxie touches Zo!'s elbow, trying to pull him to the side so she can talk quietly to him.
"Listen, rumor is that you're interested in doing business with the Starfinders. You can see that there are some potential money making opportunities within our organizations. I understand your business, your perspective on things. I also know who the best people in my organization are for you to talk to about said money making opportunities. You know, the ones whose heads aren't always in the clouds and that understand the importance of our missions actually turning a profit. We could help each other, you know what I'm saying?"
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"Is that Zo?!? I love his work!" Culper heads straight toward the undead talk show host and engages him in conversation, trying to pitch him an idea for a show based around a maverick Starfinder agent just trying to get the job done!
Indeed, Culper is too star-struck to really even speak, mostly just drooling and making woo noises at the host while others actually speak to him. It would be really embarrassing if Culper had any sense of shame.
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Rez spots the wisened Royo in the crowd, and starts towards him, only stopping to grab a neon-coloured drink from a server just passing by. As he approaches, he hopes that he can find some common ground as the only two ysoki in sight.
"Lovely spread they've put on here, eh?" blurts Rez, then offers a paw in greeting. "My apologies! I regret that I've not made your acquaintance before today, but your pursuits in... procurement and preservation... certainly precede you, Royo."
In the attempt at making small talk, Rez sees where the conversation might go.
"The name's Rez. I am but a humble courier. I dabble in... just procurement, but I always ensure such goods get to where they need to go."
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Chetna wanders up to Naiaj, "Venture Captain," and bows slightly in respect. "Chetna Wavari at your service." She takes a small sip from the flute of wine in her hand.
Perusing the room the smuggler says, "I should look forward to working up the ranks if it includes being invited to more of these little shindigs."
"Although, I'm sure you've also had plenty of excursions into the great beyond which are a little less formal. Wastelands, hard vac, and treacherous jungles alike."
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Eevee seeks out Ykris from the crowd. Ykris appears as an iridescent, segmented insect clinging to the scalp of a cleancut, immaculately dressed half-elf man. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that many of Ykris’s spiny legs pierce the man’s skin and deeply into his flesh, particularly along the base of the man’s skull and down the back of his neck.
Ykris watches as the android passes by him several times. "Excuse me. I happened to notice your gear. Might you happen to be a member of the Starfinder Society? That get up looks a bit too fancy for a security guard."
Cupler begins to babble an incoherent tale of Starfinders, a building collapsing, medals, credits lost and a baby Ysoki that it makes Zo! speechless as he stops talking to a group of nobles about his most recent production.
Vegoia makes her way to Iteration-117 and extends one of her many hands. Iteration-177 is surprisingly charming for an android. "That is a beautiful bright red scarf you have."
Just before confronting Iteration-177 Vegoia spoke with a few others and found out that the Android would be a bit more responsive to a few rumors about the Starfinder Societies future plans.
"It is good to see you again Moxie!" The Elebrian holds her back with his bony hands as he is glad to be dragged away from the babbling Cupler. Moxie attempts to drag the performer into a new production. "That sounds great and all, but I am afraid that is only a rumor. Tell me! What have you been up to? Been in anything new lately?"
Chetna chats up the venture Captain a bit. Naiaj makes no concessions to the formality of this event; she wears her usual carbon skin armor, datapad never out of sight and wrist-based comm unit constantly blinking with updates. She wears her gleaming white hair cropped close, and despite her small size, she looks as if she could stare down a team of hardened vesk mercenaries. She stares up at Chetna as she is interrupted. Looking over Chetna's gear she points out several areas that Chetna could improve. "You would make a far better Starfinder if you spent less time at these functions trying to impress me and more time recruiting funds and personnel." Seeing the venture captain's several computting devices Chetna believes she might be able to impress her competence in the field through speaking of computers.
Rez finds the other Ysoki as he feels a bit more comfortable to someone of his own race. Royo wears immaculate formalwear about 20 years out of date; his tawny fur is beginning to go silver around his whiskers and paws. He wears elegant spectacles. Tucked beneath one arm is a small folio of physical paper. He stands among a circle of scholars engaged in an exuberant discussion of esoteric topics.
The group looks to see what Rez has to add to the topic. Royo looks a bit dismissive at Rez joining the conversation. Rez feels he might be able to find a few good angles talking on
Eevee
Cupler
Vegoia
Moxie
Chetna
Rez
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After discussing equipment (including a few thoughts on how it would be nice to have access to bigger and better things, Eevee gracefully glides over to Royo.
She takes some time discussing the various species, races, and technology that come through the doors of Castamir's Station.
Anything the yoski perks up to, she focuses on, trying to show off her knowledge and curiosity while building up his.
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Sensing that he's out of his element among the huddled ring of scholars, Rez notices Chetna attempting to talk to Naiaj and decides to see if he can help out over there.
"Ah, is that a Droskar-9 I spy there on your wrist? Oh, of course not... a Venture Captain would be rocking some top-grade hardware, and the Nines are soooo last-gen. Me, I'm still stuck using an AbadarCorp 8X, but I'm not complaining... a real workhorse, the 8X..."
Rez cuts his glance away from the stony gnome and looks to Chetna to take the reins.
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Bidding Ykris a farewell, Eevee Shifts over to Royo as she overhears the conversation. Out of the corner of her ear she hears Ykris mutter. "Well, that was rude."
Royo seems to perk up a small bit at Eevee's line of questioning. That is until the ysoki looks up to find that it is an advanced android. He frowns deeply. "Of course you would know all of that. Your fancy computer makes it mandatory. Though nothing beats a good old ink to paper." He taps his portfolio with a claw.
Zo! doesn't even notice as Cupler leaves as he is deep in conversation with Moxie. Seeing Royo's displeasure with automation and androids Cupler hops in discussing the differences from analog to digital. Royo turns to his colleagues. "See, he gets it as well. It is not a dying form." ooc]+1 Success.[/ooc]
Vegoia leaves Iteration-117 as a small crowd begins to form around Royo. Vegoia tries to hop into the conversation bringing up mysticism forms but Royo is in the middle of a tirade on how computers are ruining everything.
Moxie has a hard time reading Zo!. And through a bit of small talk she finds that he is keeping an eye out for new talent for an upcoming project with a lot of “action scenes He sounds like he would be particularly impressed by anyone who can demonstrate their abilities through
Rez approaches the bleached gnome. She seems a bit impressed. "You worked for me on a job yet? You might have some potential yet."
Eevee
Cupler
Vegoia
Moxie
Chetna
Rez
